PPAA’s 2020 Candidate Endorsements: 5 Months to Election Day

With Memorial Day behind us, we’ve now got just under two months until the August 4th primary, and less than five months until Election Day! Now is the time to make sure that you know who will be on the ballot, and which candidates will fight for your health and rights in the legislature. 

Already registered to vote? Great! Become a Planned Parenthood Arizona voter registration or civic engagement ambassador and help ensure every eligible Arizonan gets a voice and a vote: Apply to volunteer with PPAZ’s Shout Your Vote program http://ppazvolunteer.org; Text your friends and triple your vote using the Outvote app [http://bit.ly/outvoteppaz]; And get in touch with our Civic Engagement Organizer Aaron Kane (mailto:[email protected]) for more information.

The stakes in this election are higher than ever. If these last four years have shown us anything, it is that we need our state legislature to be a backstop to protect our health and rights. That hasn’t been the case so far, and Arizonans have suffered because of it. But a pro-reproductive health majority is within reach this November. With that in mind, Planned Parent Advocates of Arizona is thrilled to spotlight two more of our endorsed candidates: Representative Jennifer Longdon and Representative Raquel Terán.

Jennifer Longdon, representing the 24th Legislative District, has always been an ardent fighter, and deeply understands the need for access to quality, affordable health care for all Arizonans. In 2004, Rep. Longdon was paralyzed when she was wounded in a drive-by shooting. She lost her health insurance and struggled financially while lying in a hospital bed in a coma in the aftermath, but now, 16 years later, Longdon has emerged stronger for it. She has led grassroots advocacy on gun violence, increasing opportunities for marginalized communities and in 2018, joined the blue wave of Democratic legislators that were elected to sweep change into Phoenix. 

Rep. Longdon has been busy in her first two years in Phoenix, sponsoring 8 bills, including one to establish a bill of rights for sexual assault. And she fought hard against legislation that would have handed millions of taxpayer dollars to an anti-abortion group. 

Raquel Terán, who represents the 30th Legislative District, is a true Arizona leader. For decades now, Terán has been advocating on behalf of civil, immigrant, labor and the rights of women and people of all gender identities. Not only that, Representative Terán knows the fight that so many Arizonans endure every day. Just in 2018, Rep. Terán had her citizenship challenged in court by an anti-immigrant activist. “Successfully beating back the challenge is not the point,” Terán has said, “we need to speak up” to fight this wave of anti-immigration harassment.  

Representative Terán has been putting her background in advocacy to incredible use, sponsoring 5 bills in her Freshman term. She is a member of State Innovation Exchange’s (SiX) Reproductive Leadership Council . Let’s send Raquel Terán back to the Capitol to continue the great work!